All Three Crews Earns Semifinal Berths On Opening Day Of NCAA Championships

It certainly didn't come easily, but all three Yale crews qualified for the semifinals on the opening day of the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships at rainy Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis.

The varsity four of Amina Edwards, Brit Sharon, Emily Tormey, Jen Stockwood and coxswain Christine Devlin took the simplest route, finishing second in the heat. The top two automatically moved on to the semifinals. The Bulldogs finished with a time of 8:06.888, nearly seven seconds faster than third-place Brown and four seconds behind first-place Virginia.

Yale head coach Will Porter changed the varsity four and second varsity eight lineups following the Ivy League Championships two weeks ago and it seemed to pay dividends for the four.

"They raced really well, and I think they are only going to get faster," Porter said. "They were strong through the middle of the race."

The varsity eight and the second varsity eight had to work a little harder. Both finished third in the heats and were forced to race again in the repechage where the top two finishers advanced to semis.

The varsity eight was particularly frustrated with their performance in the heat. Yale raced out to an early lead but was overtaken by Southern California and Radcliffe.

The varsity eight repechage was a thriller as the top three finishers were separated by less than a second. The Bulldogs were second with a time of 7:05.360, just ahead of Notre Dame (7:05.656) and just behind Stanford (7:05.096).

"Our varsity eight is a classic young crew," Porter said. "They were literally the fastest crew at the regatta for the first half of the heat and were a little surprised [by their result]. They missed an opportunity, but fought through. They are still learning about the ups and downs of a three-day regatta."